"A big shot came to Iron Claw City a few days ago." She ordered under Sister Delia's confused look, "Clean up the places that need to be cleaned up, and don't let the guests see the dirty things. Although it is unlikely that such a person will come. Let’s come here. Has the girl’s body been buried?”
"It has been buried, Dean."
The conversation ended quickly. Perhaps in the eyes of Abbot Barnza, Delea was just a young nun with excessive sympathy, and her words were always ignored. Roma followed Sister Delia and quietly ran out. The latter had seen her a long time ago and was a little annoyed at the moment.
"Please, Miss Roma. You really scared me. There is magic blocking the study. Even if the dean can't see you, you may not be safe."
At least the little lion head knew not to tell the information about the tower casually. Of course, even if she did, no one might believe it. "I want to get out of here," she told Sister Delea.
"If you don't take Aiken with you, you can go wherever you want, Miss Roma. The convent is not your prison." Sister Delia said sadly. Her sorrow is not for herself. As early as the day she received the baptism of divine magic, she dedicated herself to God. "Goddess Gaia, I really hope this is not anyone's prison. Manai was just fooled by love. She was still a child, but she was punished as an adult."
"Then just run away." Like me.
Sister Delia shook her head, "Humans have human rules. You are free, and Manai and Aiken have their own destiny. Every fault must be repaid. Although the future is controlled by Otto, the faults are like unpaid debts." Debt is engraved on their souls and is a stain that cannot be washed away throughout their lives.”
"If you can't wash it off in your lifetime, why do you have to wash it?"
"Because people will remember. When one day the world forgets their sins and can treat these poor children equally, they can return to their families." Sister Delea said, "Gaia understands people's prejudices and also He can forgive the girls' sins. He uses his monastery to protect them, but this protection cannot touch the soul, and they can only wake up on their own."
Roma disagreed. "Unless you send them to heaven," she told the naive nun, "otherwise the church will separate them from society and will only make people remember Manet's sins. Humph! How can this be considered a sin? This is obviously that Bridget It’s their fault. At most, it’s an equal share between the two of them. Manai alone can’t give birth to Aiken. Gaia knows this...but He only punishes Manai, which is not fair at all.”
"They were not engaged, so the girl was not protected by the law. Gaia is the god of justice and there was nothing she could do about it." The nun followed her downstairs. "Miss Roma, you are too young. You don't understand anything. If we don't give up the ability to breastfeed our offspring, there will never be justice in this world." She said the end, her voice so low that Roma could hardly hear her.
We must escape, Roma decided, and the news must not be revealed to Sister Delia. This stupid nun has rust in her brain and can do nothing but reason with everyone she meets. Although this is nothing compared to Dean Barnza's cruel behavior of driving away the mother and child of a disabled baby, she might report it to the Dean and think she "saved" Manet's soul.
In the tower, she had experienced the bitter consequences of finding an idiot as an accomplice. Sabine is a great help in predicting dangers and copying homework, but if she encounters a setback or any part of the plan doesn't satisfy her, she will reveal all of Roma's pranks to anyone. If you share your secrets with this kind of person, you think you don't have enough difficulties.
As for where to go after escaping, Roma also considered it. They can be adventurers, the little lion thought. I will be responsible for hunting, and Manai will be responsible for taking care of Aiken. We can go to many places, and in the meantime Aiken and Manet... Dorothy will never be separated. If Dorothy wanted to go home, she would also be happy to go south to see the snowflakes and glaciers.
Sister Drea took a look around the nursery before working on her papers. She asked Ciatta to put the motherless baby to sleep, and the latter broke away from the exhausting work of starching. The girl's eyelids were fighting up and down, as if she was about to fall asleep any second.
Roma wanted to stay here, and Aiken had been interested in her hair lately. However, most of the children were sleeping peacefully, and there was only a barefoot young girl in the room who swept the scented linen over the head of the baby's bed and covered the kicked-off blanket. She found that her restless personality was not suitable for this kind of atmosphere, so she quietly withdrew.
She came to the corridor and felt the land wind blowing on her cheeks. Sister Delea passed two small, narrow wooden houses before her eyes, but stopped at a corner and looked toward the road. There was a straight stone road beside her feet, and Roma couldn't help but shiver in the cold wind.
In the gray and black forest of stone tablets, there is a slender white figure. She wore a brimless crocheted hat and, as required, not even a hair was exposed. Before entering the church, the girls' hair is cut short like the men's. The robe she wore was very close-fitting, in order to cover up the traces of childbirth. The figure standing in the cemetery is undoubtedly that of an unwed mother.
In an instant, all the rumors of the night, which she had heard from hearsay, came to her mind. Roma's hair stood up and her sharp claws popped out from her fingers until she heard Sister Delia's call: "Manet?"
…
The stone steps were no warmer than the soil, and the nursery took up all the sunlight. Manet had just been taken off her shift by a new batch of girls and was going to the nursery to take care of the baby. She actually doesn't like this kind of troublesome escort. She would rather go back to the dormitory to sleep than cultivating a relationship with her son. But the convent did not allow the girls to return prematurely. After the children were asleep, Manet found that he had nothing to do and somehow ended up in the cemetery.
"Where are you going and what are you doing?"
"I came to see little Lena's mother," Manet replied. Lena is a troublesome girl, and her bed is facing little Aiken. She could never forget the nuns who took the baby and then worked together to lift the body wrapped in blood-stained sheets. The child lost her mother right after she was born... The girl who died in childbirth was buried under a smooth stone monument, unique among the many priests' tombstones. Let me see where I end up. "Lena suddenly screamed in her sleep," she said. "I hope she can pray for her daughter. Whether she is in the kingdom of Gaia or the black and red hell."
Sister Drea approached her, followed by the little lion Roma Penelope. Manet thought she was still hanging around her Aiken. With this strange lion girl by his side, he is destined to be braver than me. "I'm so scared, Delea," Manet said. The fear was evident on her face. "You saved me. Otherwise, Aiken and I would be lying here."
"Absolutely not." The blonde girl replied confidently, "Aiken is very strong. I believe he will grow as fast as me." She was probably talking nonsense. The growth period of lion people is actually several times slower than that of humans. .
"Don't think about those old things." Sister Delia comforted her, "Come here quickly, it's very cold there." The nun stretched out her hand to pull her, but Roma also moved forward and knocked the scripture off the former's arm. The notes spread out. Sister Delia's eyes were confused for a moment, and she lowered her head calmly, so that Roma didn't notice anything unusual.
Manai also came to help, but she only put away one piece and stayed where she was. She came to her senses when Sister Drea packed up the pages with thanks and took them back to the nursery.
"The weather is getting colder," Sister Delia lamented.
"The weather is getting more comfortable," Roma disagreed. The hair on her head was thick as hell, perfect for the cool harvest moon. "You haven't finished your homework yet. Dean Barnza asked you to do arithmetic."
"The day of confession is coming, and the Archbishop needs the accounts of each branch church." Sister Delia said carefully, "And there are many babies here, and their supplies must be purchased separately." She was not lying.
Manai looked at the children sleeping in the gentle incense, and suddenly wanted to go in and touch her son's forehead. There was something she had been keeping in her mind, and she finally got the answer today. "Sister Delea." She sat down on the long wooden chair. After the day's work, only some kind of obsession supported her instead of energy. "I wanted to be like you, to dedicate myself to Gaia. But Upton, my father, he didn't think I was selfless enough. I think he was telling the truth."
Sister Delia took Manet's hands with compassion: "Don't always blame yourself. Encountering evil is just a misfortune of fate. You are kind and lovely, and you should have lived a happy life."
Happiness is always a dream. "I want to become a nun of Gaia and teach myself the words of God." Manet saw Sister Delia's face turn pale, and she suspected that her own face was not much better. "What job did the dean give you?" she asked in a low voice, "Can I help you?"
"No... use." Sister Delia withdrew her hand as if she was electrocuted.
Roma stared, not understanding what was happening.
"Let me help you, Sister Delea, let me see those things." Manai tried her best to speak clearly, "I am under your care, my Aiken and I, Sister Delea, I I'm scared to death. Let me relax, let me not suffer! For Gaia's sake, this can't be true."
The latter turned his head away reluctantly.
Roma didn't need anyone's permission. Driven by Manai's gaze, she opened the scripture in a hurry. She pulled out a piece of crisp, thin paper from behind the cover, as big as two palms. There were many symbols written on it, and the only one the little lion could understand was the repeated name "Lena" written in Common Language. There was a bloody fingerprint on the last blank space. "What is this?" She rubbed her fingers on the old blood.
Sister Delia said nothing. Manet felt as if his soul had left his body. She read the words above:
I do hereby renounce forever the parental rights to my daughter Lena, and transfer them to Marjorie Barnza, Abbess of Silver Lily Abbey, Sixth Branch Parish, Kings County.
The above is sworn and signed by Christine voluntarily on the fourth Wednesday of the Harvest Moon in the year of the cold moon.
